GE Gets Penalized for a Capital Business

In the immortal words of Mae West, "too much of a good thing can be wonderful." The problem at General Electric Co. was that too much of a good thing nearly killed it.

Ever since the financial crisis, management has been committed to shrinking GE Capital, the financial arm that once drove its growth. The message from the markets has been that GE would be rewarded for emphasizing other parts of the conglomerate.